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By Lana Maciel / Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Roger Federer was in vintage form during Wednesday’s
quarterfinal match against Andy Murray.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve
If he hasn’t already made
it clear yet, Roger Federer is back. The
four-time Australian Open champion is in fine form at this
year’s event, quite reminiscent of the vintage, dominant
Federer of the mid to late 2000s.
His quarterfinal showdown with Andy Murray on
Wednesday night proved his resilience in coming back from a
subpar finish to 2013. Against his Scottish rival, the Swiss
No. 6 seed consistently struck the ball with authority, keeping
Murray on a string for most of the match.
His net game was smothering (and quite solid, at 49 of 66
points won), his serves firing on all cylinders, and his return
game sharp. Despite the slight hiccup in the third set
tiebreak, which Federer let slip away thanks to a few errant
shots, he managed to pull off the 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3 win to
advance to the semifinals in Melbourne for the 11th consecutive
year.
After the match, Federer cited a significant improvement in his
movement as one of the biggest factors in his surge to the
semis.
“I’m much higher now than I was last year, I’m more confident
with everything and feeling better in my movement,” he said.
“It was a tough time last year, but I kept playing and kept
working. I’m happy that the last four months have paid off, and
here I am in the semifinals again.”
It took just 30 minutes for the Swiss to put away the first set
against an off-target Murray. Another break of serve midway
through the second set gave Federer a 3-2 advantage on his
serve, a lead he held on to all the way to a two-set lead. But
late in the third set, just when it appeared a break on
Murray’s serve at 5-4 would soon end the match, a fired-up
Murray evened the score with a break of his own to get back on
serve at 5-5 and eventually push it to a tiebreak.
Federer held two match points before a shanked groundstroke and
an unforced error allowed Murray to take the lead and steal the
set. But the Scot’s threat to push the match to five sets was
short-lived, as Federer broke again for 5-3 in the fourth and
converted on his third match point to seal the win with an
authoritative ace.
Although Murray said his back was not a factor in his play, he
admitted that he started the match flat and couldn’t do enough
to dismantle Federer’s strong game.
“I didn’t return well enough, to be honest, the first two
sets,” Murray said of his performance. “He served extremely
well. I mean, he started off the match playing great, great
tennis. When I had the opportunities, some second serve
returns, maybe didn’t make him play enough. You know, there’s a
few points here and there where I hit tapes on returns and
missed the shot by a little bit. I just kept fighting. I tried
to adjust the way that I was playing. I was happy with that,
because if I hadn’t made those adjustments it could have been a
bit quicker. Glad I managed to respond and made the match
competitive.”
Federer will next square off in a marquee clash against top
seed Rafael Nadal, a match that already has
fans buzzing about this classic Roger vs. Rafa rivalry. And if
it’s anything like the contests of before, it could be another
classic to add to the vault.
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